The Heartbeat in the Void
by Pearlinprocess
Summary: Ever noticed how much movie!Coraline and Marie Kanker look alike? This story is a what-if based on this. What if they were the same person? What if the events of one's past comes full circle in another one's present? Edd/Marie, Ed/May. Rated M for mature/dark themes and major character death from the Coraline cast. (Please don't run!) Full summary inside. Please review!
1. The End of the Beginning

Summary: This fic is a "what-if" based on the similarities in appearance between movie!Coraline Jones and Marie Kanker. What if they were the same person? This fic contains the mystery of how this came to be in my crossover world. Rated M for dark themes, major character death from within the Coraline cast (Swear there's a happy ending though folks, please don't shy away!), and maybe a couple of lemons near the end of the story, after all that plot is out of the way. ;P

Pairings: Edd/Marie, Wybie/Coraline, Edd/Coraline and Wybie/Marie if you tilt your head like the Cat from Coraline does lol, Ed/May, Eddy/Lee, and eventually will end with Eddy/Sarah and Rolf/Lee. ^^ Also mentions Kevin/Nazz.

READ AFTER SUMMARY PLEASE =) : Okay, first to understand this story, you have to know it isn't strictly true to Coraline or Ed, Edd and Eddy canon, while also trying to be as much so as I can for both. What I'm doing is mixing Coraline's movie and novel canon, to make this work for the Ed Edd n Eddy crossover. And with Ed Edd n Eddy, I am sticking to canon almost 100% in terms of dialogue, fourth wall breaking aside, but it will also be a slightly more realistic version in terms of the violence. Not too much so though. But say, instead of Eddy being bounced off his brother's trailer like a ball at the end of the movie, in my story his brother will have smashed his head against the wall of his trailer at close range, and instead of throwing Eddy over his shoulder on top of Double D and flattening him into the ground, he'll have smashed their faces together in a mock kiss/headbutt(since he's a homophobe and all). In addition, I will also be giving most of the characters that don't have surnames my own little made-up last names.

As for the differences in Coraline's canon. First of all, I am going with the basic movie design of Coraline, but as I mentioned, I'll be treating the characters in a slightly (sliiiiightly!) more realistic view than each version's canon. For example, in the movie version, she has blue hair and looks a lot like Marie, which is the basis for this whole story. XD But in the simplistic pictures in the novel's illustrations, the race is kind of ambiguous. The picture on the cover gives her auburn-brown hair, but then in a few of the black and white pictures in the book, she and her parents actually look like they could be some kind of Asian. So to create the blue hair in a real life way, I'm having Coraline/Marie be a mix of races, as will all the characters be of course, but she will have inherited a rare color of bluish-black hair from a Japanese ancestor from her mother's side, her mother being a mix of that and a few Western races. Coraline/Marie's father in this story will resemble his version from the Coraline graphic novel, with blonde hair. He is May's uncle from her father's side, and that is how Marie is physically connected to the true Kanker sisters, Lee and May. ;)

The character Wyborne and the Lovat family's inclusion into the movie storyline will be in this story. However, I will be using the book's faerie child character instead of the movie's third ghost girl. So the three ghost children in my story are the ghost boy, little Ms. Lovat, and the faerie girl.

The part of the book where Coraline's father protects her from the wasps nest is also included, because I felt it was a powerful scene and should never have been cut from the movie, and I will mention it in this story. 9_9; Also, Coraline's ending is going to be a mix of the novel and the movie ending, with both Coraline and Wybie, BUT instead of the nighttime attack where they crush the Beldam's right hand, it's stylized like the novel's ending, where Coraline and Wybie trick the hand into falling down the well by faking a tea party and placing the key as bait on a tablecloth balanced over the well.

Okay, I believe that's all that needs to be known for now, but if you have any questions that I can answer without giving away too much plot, ask and I'll answer if I can. Well, on to the story! =)

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Eddward Marion DaSilva stood at the steps of his high school, which he had been looking upon much more carefully recently, studying all the details of the building so that his memories of it, mostly fond, would hopefully last after he'd left. He was two months away from graduation. Well, truthfully he could have graduated high school years ago if he'd wanted to. But he didn't want to. He didn't want to leave his lovable platonic life mates, Edward Horace Sanderson, aka "Ed", and Edmund Skipper Yorkman, aka "Eddy" (Or "Dorkman", to Kevin) , any sooner than he had to. But he would soon have to leave them, and all the other children of the cul-de-sac, just after summer's end. His parents had been saving since his birth for college, and even though some of their son's accidentally destructive escapades had set them back a few times, they had never wavered, knowing the boy was simply exploring his world and finding his niche, and was bound to get into trouble every once in a while, despite otherwise being the perfect son.

And the perfect friend to boot. Ed had been held back one year as a child, and so despite being older by a year than Edd and Eddy, he was graduating in their year. But he'd been dangerously close to not doing so, had Edd not stepped in and tutored him. Now Ed was proudly ordering his graduation gown and cap, and talking excitedly about exploring the idea of getting into agriculture, one of the subjects Ed did excel at due to his love for animals. He even convinced the school to stop Pig Castration Day after the fiasco the lovable lump's freak-out had caused.

Eddy, on the other hand, had long since learned that legitimate business made far more money than schemes ever would, and had concentrated on improving his grades enough to make it into business school and had been holding a typical teenage burger joint job since he was old enough to have one to save money for it. Eddy was never a genius like Edd, and even had moments where he was even dumber than Ed, but he was highly creative and energetic, and it would take him far now that his head and heart were both in the right places.

As for Eddward, he had thought a lot about what he wanted to do with his life, had been thinking about it for a long time. He'd known he wanted to do good for the world. But he also wanted to see all of the world he was doing good for. Of course traveling across the world would be expensive, so he would also need to choose a profession that paid well enough for it. He'd come to the conclusion that, having been blessed with higher intellect, he ought to pursue a career that utilized as much of it as possible. As a young child his first dream was to be a doctor, with the simple and childish but also noble ambition of making sick people better. But the multitude of painful conditions and diseases and germs had scared him away from it for a while. In his later childhood years and adolescence he would explore several hundred different ideas with his friends, who also taught him not to be such a pansy about germs and pain.

Which was good for him, because despite being a pansy, Eddward was a natural explorer. He loved learning new things, and as he learned time and time again from his friends and their adventures, there was many, many things that could never be learned from a book. Like the fact that germs usually didn't kill you, that not everyone lived in spotless homes with supportive parents, and most of them had no more issues than Eddward himself still had in those pristine conditions. He'd had so much fun during his childhood, playing with his friends and learning about them, learning what made them tick and why. Eddward had many plans for his future, but he'd decided the first of them would be to get his degree in psychology. He would be helping people by helping them learn about themselves, and eventually be making enough money from it to have trips to exotic places.

But he didn't reminisce just about his two best pals, even if they were the main character's in his life's play, or his own decisions for that life of his. He also recalled Nazz Van Bartonschmeer, the typical unattainably perfect girl. Only, Edd had been so lucky to have attained her, if just briefly, at the beginning of the last year. She'd had a big fight with Kevin, and to everyone's shock, had asked Edd out on the rebound. She'd told him she'd always thought he was a nice guy, and wanted to get to know him better. He of course had agreed, too shocked by his luck to think twice about it.

He learned things about Nazz in return - That he'd inspired her as a child to seriously pursue a career as a dentist, and that her fight with Kevin was because he was against this choice. But Kevin eventually came to his senses, and by then Nazz had long since realized that she'd made a mistake with Edd, and vice versa with him. They were too different, and she found herself becoming bored with him, despite her best effort to appear interested and supportive of his long-winded theories and ideas. And he had to admit, her rants about her daily beauty regimen was only interesting the first six or seven times he heard it. They ended the relation amicably, with only the slightest of hurt feelings, and still maintained their friendship after those wounds too had healed.

Thinking about Nazz then led Eddward to think about Marie Kanker, which cause him to sigh deeply. Marie. She was so very different now than she had been as a girl. During his courtship with Nazz, Edd had briefly wondered a time or two, if Marie might possibly get jealous and cause some kind of scene. But she didn't. In fact, Marie hadn't spoken any more than a few neutral lines, such as "excuse me" or to ask the answer to a complex problem, since the end of the second year of high school. Ever since that incident had occurred, which the Eds had collectively dubbed, "The Day We Made The Kankers Hate Us".

On that day, the Eds had been exploring the junkyard for parts, not for a scheme though, but for a science project. A very important project for Ed and Eddy, which would make the deciding factor in whether or not they would be passing that class. They'd been scouring the filth all day, and had just been about to give up when they stumbled upon the piece they'd been searching so hard for - An old propeller fan. Old and broken, but salvageable for what they needed it for. Eddy had crowed triumphantly, and the second his hand was on the device, Marie had grabbed the other end.

Marie was partly at fault for what happened, but Edd and Eddy both felt deep shame whenever they remembered it. She'd initiated a game of tug-o-war over the fan, with Eddy and Edd fighting to keep their grips on the fan while Lee and May kept Ed distracted. Edd and Eddy were both having their masculine pride shamed in that one girl was more than enough to keep the two of them from obtaining their prize. No matter how hard they tugged, Marie just laughed and kept her grip.

Tired of it soon enough, Eddy whispered subtly to Edd, "Hey sockhead - If she wants it so much, lets just give it to her! On the count of three!" Edd should have protested, he should have cared as well as known that Marie would get hurt by the action Eddy had suggested, even if he had no way of knowing how much she would be hurt. He certainly should not have let his dark side, his desire to get even, take control of his fingers, letting them slip at the sound of "three". The fan flew back at Marie, who was holding the heaviest part of it, the base. The hard, heavy plastic hit her right in the eye, the eye she always had covered by her hair. Edd was doubly ashamed to admit the pleasure he felt that first second, seeing her finally get her what-for, and he and Eddy were about to laugh aloud at her misfortune, until she let out a sudden, loud, and painful cry. The pain shocked her so much that she fell back onto the oily dirt. She dropped the fan and reached for her eye, and to Edd and Eddy's sobering shock, she began to scream and sob.

Lee and May immediately forgot about Ed, rushing to their sister's aid. Lee growled and shoved Eddy aside to get to Marie, shouting back at them even though she was focused on cradling and comforting her sister, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

If Edd and Eddy hadn't already felt guilty enough, Ed grabbed the both of them by the scruffs of their necks, and dragged them away from the scene to the other end of the junkyard, where he unceremoniously threw both of them into the back of their van/clubhouse. Luckily the waterbed broke their fall, but their luck didn't last long. As soon as Ed had closed the door behind him, he first grabbed Eddy, whom he knew would run away if he saw what was coming first, as opposed to Edd, who would watch and cower. The taller, stronger male mercilessly socked the shorter one across the jaw, causing their skinny friend to gasp in utter shock at their normally gentle protector's display of violence. Eddy backed away into a corner, shivering, while Ed reached for Double D. It hurt Ed far more to have to teach this friend his lesson, and he couldn't even find it within himself to give him the same rough treatment as the other. Still, he grabbed the other boy's arms and held him down securely, socking him hard three times on the arm until he was sure a sufficiently painful bruise would be left behind. But of course the physical pain would not outlast the emotional pain, the "puppy dog with it's tail between it's legs" feeling they'd have for days after the upcoming scolding.

"You guys are total assholes!" Ed had shouted at them right after releasing Edd, who had tears streaming down his face. "I can't believe you just did that! You guys hurt a girl! A GIRL! You DO NOT," In his anger he reached over and socked Double D again in the opposite arm, then reached over to Eddy and gave him another sock on one of his arm's too. "Hit girls!" He finished, tears now streaming down his face too at having to do that to his friends.

The three of them sat there crying for a few minutes, until Ed finally spoke up again. "We are going to the trailer park tomorrow, and you two are going to apologize." It was not a request, and they knew it.

Eddward sighed shakily, the sound wet from phlegm. "Of course…" Eddy didn't say anything, but he didn't protest either.

The next day Ed dragged them to the trailer park as he promise, knocking on the trailer door himself. Lee answered the door, and immediately growled at the trio like a pit bull. "Why the hell are you here? Haven't you done enough damage already?"

Edd was the first to speak up, the one full of the most guilt and regret. "Please Lee, we came to apologize. We're really sorry. Can we please speak to Marie?"

She glared at them a moment before deciding to allow it. She hollered for her sister, "MARIE! The wife beaters are here to see you!" Edd winced at the new nickname, but didn't say anything about it.

When Marie came to the door, she seemed as though she'd changed somehow. Normally she would be annoyed and showing it freely, but today she looked at the boys with a tiredness and sadness that made Edd feel even worse. "Yeah?" She said simply, her voice almost a whisper, leaning against the door frame while she waited, arms crossed.

"Marie," Edd began, twiddling his fingers in nervousness. "Words truly cannot express to you how sorry I am, but I will try... What we did yesterday was beyond shameful, beyond apprehensible. I should have known better. I should have acted better. I have no excuse for my behavior, I can only say I am truly, truly sorry…"

She listened to him, not saying anything, simply waiting. She continued to wait after he was through, and Ed nudged Eddy to get him started. Eddy sighed, kicking the dirt lightly. "…Sorry, Marie." He said simply. Ed nudged him again, indicating that he expected more than that. Eddy sighed, "I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. How's your eye, by the way?" He asked this flippantly, since he didn't actually believe she'd been hurt as badly as she made it seem.

She stared at them for a few seconds after he asked that. Then, without a word, she reached up towards her face, and pulled the curtain of bangs to the side and behind her ear. All three Ed's immediately gasped in horror at what they saw. A deep scar ran across her eye, slightly slanted like a slash bar from a computer keyboard down across the middle of the eyeball, which was milky with blindness.

Edd was the first to recover enough to speak, and he used his voice to gasp out in horror, "Oh god, Marie, please tell me we didn't do that!" If he weren't so shocked by the gruesome injury he would have realized that the scar was an old one, and they couldn't have inflicted it only yesterday.

But she answered the stupid question anyways. "No, Double D." Her voice was quiet and listless, patient even. So completely unlike her. "It's an old scar. But it still hurts whenever someone touches it. And it hurts like a son of a whore when someone hits it with a blunt, heavy object." She added pointedly, and Eddward felt his already overwhelming guilt increase, as well as curiosity, wondering how the ghastly scar had been acquired. But he restrained his curiosity, focusing on his guilt.

Ed, however, did not do this. Thankfully, he voiced the curiosity first, in his sweet simple concerned way, before Eddy brayed the question out like a demand. "Uh, Marie, how did you get that nasty booboo?" His eyes actually misted up with concern.

Marie paused at that. Lee and May approached, having been listening the whole time of course. Lee was about to butt in, but Marie piped up before she did, "Honestly? I don't remember." Lee begrudgingly backed off just a step. Marie continued, "So, look… Old injury you couldn't have known anything about aside, I know I kind of still deserved it. I've probably had it coming for while, after everything I've done to you. We've done to you." Lee and May stiffened at that, but remained silent, for once, considering the circumstances.

Edd gasped, "Oh Marie, please don't say that! I-" But she cut him off.

"Just shut up and listen please, Double D." She requested, with no anger in her voice, only deep fatigue. "I did deserve it. That doesn't mean you weren't wrong too. But… This whole… Girl versus Boy, Love versus Hate kind of thing we've got going between us… I guess it got old for you guys a long time ago. And I understand, me and the girls can be real bitches sometimes…" Again, Edd was tempted to disagree with her for some reason, but she continued without his input. "Our stupid little pranks and teasing go too far most of the time, but… You have to know, even though we've been stupid and hurt you when we didn't mean to, we always really, truly liked you too... Maybe love at first sight is a little naïve, but that's just what it was. We loved you guys from the first time we saw you. Loved you most of the time after that, too." Though she was speaking to all three of them, her good eye was locked on Edd's the entire time. He blushed at that look in the chocolate brown eye, his heart secretly wondering if that love still remained. Secretly wishing for it. She sighed, a long, heavy sigh. "…But it's probably best if you just stay away from us from now on. And we'll stay away from you."

Edd didn't know why he filled with dread at her suggestion. But then it wasn't the prospect that scared him, but the circumstances that had caused them. Despite never feeling as strongly towards the three as they did for them, he didn't want their relationship to end like this, with all this bad blood. But Marie made it clear they had no choice in the matter, closing the door on them.

Since then a startling change had overcome Marie. She slowly became withdrawn, quiet and antisocial over the course of the next couple of years, to the point where she hardly spoke to anyone but her sisters anymore, not just the Eds. Even quicker than her talkative nature, she lost all but all of her former energy and enthusiasm for causing pain. She would stand aside quietly now as Lee and May would continue to uphold their reputations as the school badasses.

And while she was focusing more on her schoolwork, and therefore increasing her already decent grades, overall the change was a worrisome one. Eddward had almost a time or two longed to approach her despite her wishes, and ask her if anything was wrong. But when he so much as looked at Marie, Lee and May would start to stare him down, silently warning him not to try it.

Eddy, on the other hand, wasn't worried about it. "People change, Double D. Besides, aren't you just glad the Kankers aren't bugging us anymore?" Edd had quietly agreed, but inside, deep down, he truly didn't. He didn't miss getting his ass handed to him or being embarrassed by unwanted displays of affection, but he missed Marie's vibrant personality. He missed her smile. Sometimes, he even missed the affection a little bit, after his hormones finally started kicking in.

But there was nothing to be done about it. The sisters made it clear they weren't invited into their lives anymore. So Edd filed away the memories in a small corner of his brain, labeled, "Regrets.", and focused on his own life.

OoOoOoOoOoO

The next Sunday his parents had off, they drove Eddward out to visit his future college. It was relatively close by, his mother worried about him being too far from home, but it was still about a five hour drive. But it was a good college. An expensive college. So Eddward knew he had to make not just a good impression, but the best impression. He was dressed in brand new clothing his parents had so graciously supplied, a luxurious cashmere sweater in a color that resembled a cross between lime green and olive green, with a mustard yellow, almost gold, colored tie. Tan khaki slacks and white shoes adorned his lower half, and since he unfortunately could not wear his old ski hat to open house, his parents had been kind enough as to get him a matching olive green beret to hide what his ski hat usually did. The ensemble really made his lovely green eyes pop out. Those eyes were what girls usually liked best about him, besides his intelligence, not that he knew that yet though. But the girls on campus were giving him the eye, although he was focused on the scholarly aspect, of course. He practically drooled over the classes, all the advanced textbooks and facilities, the old building smell, the people and the (mostly) intelligent conversation.

After a while his parents left him to continue his tour with a small group of volunteer students while they spoke with the dean. He found himself getting along as well as could be expected with the group. There was a few other would-be students there besides Eddward too, and they all took turns telling them their names and where they were from. When it got to his turn, he laid out his part, not expecting it to gain any attention. But it did.

"Peach Creek?" One of the older students spoke up. "I got a cousin that lives down there. Hey, have you ever heard of the Kanker Sisters? Me and my cousin had a run in with them years back when I was still in high school, and those crazy chicks whooped our butts!" Despite the negative nature of the statement, the older male laughed.

Eddward sweated, caught off guard and propelled to honesty before he could think twice about it. "Y-Yeah, I know them…"

Another boy cut in, "Hey I think I know of them too! There's a redhead, Lee, right?"

Another boy nodded, "Yeah, and a blonde, May. Always the beautiful ones that are crazy, eh?"

Eddward waited a moment for the third and most obvious sister to be mentioned, but they didn't. Compelled to be her representative for some reason, he cleared his throat, "Aheh, don't forget Marie! Possibly both the craziest and most beautiful, eh?" He blushed at having admitted the part about her being beautiful. Though, since hitting puberty, Edd had started to see the beauty in most girls, including all three of the Kanker sisters.

But the other students just gave him a blank stare. "Marie?" One echoed. Another chimed in, "Who's she?"

Edd's eyes went wide and he blinked owlishly several times, "M-Marie Kanker. The other Kanker sister?" How could they not know about Marie if they knew about Lee and May? Marie may have become withdrawn over the years, but she certainly hadn't been around the time they claimed to have had their run-ins with the sisters. Back then she would have never let her sisters outshine her so much that she'd ever be forgotten. He wondered if perhaps she'd been in a sick day, but that didn't explain why none of the three students that knew of the Kankers didn't remember her.

And they continued to blink back in confusion, not recognition. "There's a third Kanker sister?" "I've only ever heard of Lee and May…" And, "Are you sure you're not thinking of May?" They began to chorus one at a time.

He answered the last one, "No, I know May too, I'm speaking of Marie Kanker? Black hair, with a bit of blue in it?"

They continued to look confused, trying to recall the girl, but not able to. Edd had been about to temporarily let the mystery go, when someone tapped him on the shoulder. He looked back and restrained the urge to gulp. It was one of the professors. He was a dark-haired older man with a few gray hairs mixed in, with very plain-looking, black-rimmed, rectangular glasses. He was smiling, but it was a tight smile, a forced smile. "Why hello, Mr. DaSilva! I've heard all sorts of good things about you. I'm Professor Lockman. Might I have a word with you in private?" He requested, and of course Eddward followed him, still reeling from the confusion of the conversation with the students.

When they arrived at the professors classroom, devoid of students for the time being, Lockman started to speak first, still in that falsely friendly manner, with the tightness underneath that suggested the conversation was a serious one. "I must say, Mr. DaSilva, I'm surprised someone of your intellectual caliber has met the likes of… Marie Kanker." Eddward did a double take as Marie came up once again, this time from the professor, who not only knew of her, but said her name the way one speaks of something frightening and dangerous. Then he added, a venomous note in that still friendly banter charade he was masking himself with, "Trailer park trash, isn't she?"

What a pompous ass, Edd thought. As if anyone said 'trailer park trash', it was just 'trailer trash'. And even if Eddy had called them that more than a few times before, and Edd had never minded, at this moment he felt protective of Marie. But he didn't say what he truly felt. He didn't want to get on people's bad side before he'd even started school. Instead, he simply mumbled, "Um. She lives in a trailer, yes."

The professor continued without Eddward's approval of his opinion. "Yes, dreadful. I happen to know her mother too. Complete slut, if you ask me."

"I didn't." Edd couldn't help quipping, before he could stop himself. Even if this might be one of his future professors, calling people's mother's names was just too low, and Edd wanted no part in the direction of where this conversation was going.

The professor simply smiled, and 'politely' rerouted the conversation to get to his point. "Yes, well. Frankly Mr. DaSilva this is simple how things are to work: You are not to speak of the Kankers, especially Marie, again at this school or anywhere near it. If you do, rest assured you will regret it." He left that threat very ambiguous, Edd thought, and then, good god, what on Earth could Marie possibly have to do with all this?

He couldn't help but voice his thoughts. "Professor Lockman, may I at least ask you why Marie Kanker is worth such a fuss?

The man laughed, "Why of course, that's only fair! But may I lead my answer to your question with another question? You're a completely rational person, aren't you Mr. DaSilva? You don't believe in silly things like ghosts, demons, or the devil, do you?"

Well, he could argue briefly about this psychological aspect of the subject, that things like that could seem very real to certain people, but instead he just gave the simplest and overall mostly truthful answer. "No, I don't."

"Neither did I, before I met Marie." He deadpanned, and Eddward couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. The man continued, "To be completely honest, Marie Kanker scares the shit out of me. And DaSilva, I was in Vietnam. I do NOT fucking scare easy." Marie not only terrified the man, but apparently brought the academic to swear like a sailor. Edd started to feel himself shake a little, but controlled it well enough, and continued to stare at the man with as much neutrality as he could manage. The psychopath continued, "I get nightmares every time I think about her. I'm going to have nightmares tonight. Nightmares distract me from my work. So, please do not bring her up again. Okay?" He smiled again, and just for the sake of getting out of the crazy man's sight faster, Eddward agreed. "Fantastic! That's it, then. You may go now." He excused him, getting to his paperwork with a whistle.

Edd left immediately, his mind already quite distracted from the current information it had been given. First the students didn't even remember Marie, and then one of the professors treated her as if she were evil incarnate. True, Edd found the girl to be quite intimidating, but the professor 's sentiment seemed to be going far overboard. He exited the classroom, and right outside the door, yet another professor was waiting for him, apparently having been listening to them. This one was a woman, about Lockman's age, with gray-streaked brown hair pulled into a scholarly bun. She also wore glasses, but they were feminine, designer glasses. They were metallic red, also rectangular in shape, but slanted, and the sides of the frames had the design of a rose with white rhinestones set in it. Despite being an older woman, Eddward couldn't help but notice she had a very pretty face, even if her shapely lips were set in a serious line. He cursed his hormones and focused himself.

"Ex-" He began, about to excuse himself and walk around her, when she quickly put a finger to her lips to shush him. Without yet introducing herself, she used that same finger to beckon him to follow her as she began to walk down the hall. He did so, and a few classes down she led him into another room, presumably her class, which was also empty at this time. She sat down at her desk, and he stood in front of it. "Good day, Mr. DaSilva. I am Professor Freeman. First, I'd like to congratulate you on being accepted to our fine university, and I hope you don't let the likes Mr. Lockman deter you from it. Secondly," She went on without his input, "If I may be so bold, may I please inquire as to your honest assessment of the nature of your relationship with Marie Kanker?" She sounded a bit nervous, but was hiding it well enough with her starchy professionalism.

Eddward blushed. As embarrassing as it was to admit, he answered her truthfully, hoping that this professor could shed a little light on the mystery Marie had somehow made of herself here. "Well… I've known her since I was twelve years old. She had a crush on me for a few years, but recently she seems to have lost interest in me." He squirmed, then on an impulse added the extra thought he had in mind. "Actually, she's lost interest in a lot recently…"

The professor seemed interested in that, and also worried. "Would you say she is exhibiting signs of depression?"

Edd blinked. "Er, well… Perhaps a mild depression, yes…"

Now she definitely looked more worried. "I was afraid of that." She mumbled. "Mr. DaSilva… Do you care about Marie?"

How could he not? Even if she was an intimidating bully, well, so was Eddy, and he still considered him his co-best friend. How could he not care about the girl who'd given and taken his first kiss? He didn't tell the professor that, but he said, "Um, well… I don't think I ever felt quite the same way as Marie felt for me," Professor Freeman raised an eyebrow at the 'I don't think' and 'quite' parts of that, but didn't comment and let him continue. "But I've known her so long, and we've been through some wacky situations before, so I'd have to say I consider her my friend… So, yes, I do…" He blushed a little at admitting it.

Freeman put her index fingers together and tapped her lip, thoughtful. "…I suppose that will have to do." She murmured to herself, then directed her attention back to Eddward. "Mr. DaSilva, I realize this is very unorthodox, but I would like to give you something. To be more specific, I would like to -entrust- you with something." Edd straightened himself out even more than he already was, trying to look trustworthy. She stared at him, right in the eyes, for a moment, before deciding. "…Naturally, Mr. DaSilva, as a psychologist, one is supposed to keep almost all things a patient says in strict confidentiality, which I intend to uphold. But considering the special circumstances involved, I feel you do deserve what explanation I can give you." At that, Professor Freeman rummaged through the top drawer in her desk, procuring a key. Using that, she opened one of the bottom drawers, pulling it all the way out to the back, where she rummaged some more before she pulled out a strange little packet of papers. It looked like a child's school assignment from elementary school, made of construction paper with drawings in pencil and color pencil. She placed it on the desk and turned it around so Eddward could read it. In big letters, the cover read: "To The Twitchy-Witchy Girl I Love." With hearts of different colors drawn around the text. A red string of yarn crossed over it longways and sideways, securing it's contents.

Eddward blushed a little, knowing this was something much more precious and personal than someone else's diary. "What is this?"

Freeman slowly sighed, and carefully began. "…That book was written years ago by a young boy. A boy who loved Marie very much, and whom she loved in return." It was a sweet story so far, but Freeman was starting to look sick. Scared, even, and it made Eddward worry about what was to come. She paused for a moment before she went on. "…As I mentioned, I cannot give you all the details, and they are so disturbing that I do not think you would want to hear them anyways. But…" She paused again, steeling herself before she went on again. "The boy died, under highly unnatural circumstances. Marie was there to witness his death, and was injured quite badly herself. She lost sight in one eye." Edd's eyes went wide and his throat tightened hearing that, sympathy surging inside of him for Marie and the boy, and dreading just what "disturbing" and "highly unnatural" could mean to a psychologist. Freeman went on, "Marie suffered a very serious bout of depression from the incident, to say the least. She even had to be placed on suicide watch." At that Eddward outright gasped. A girl as old as Marie was then being suicidal was highly unnatural itself. Though it explained the students not knowing her - She'd probably been admitted at that time. "Eventually it became obvious that Marie would not be able to recover from the incident. It was deemed that the best thing that could be done for her would be to erase her memories of both the incident, and the boy entirely. The procedure is an experimental even now, but it was deemed a success in her case. She showed dramatic improvement afterwards, and was allowed to go home to her sisters. But of course, there has always been the possibility of a relapse. At the same time though, it's been years since the incident, and this mild depression you mentioned is more likely just a simple case of teenaged hormones. I believe as long as she doesn't seem suicidal again, she ought to still be fine?" She looked at him inquiringly at that.

Eddward shook his head quickly, to assure her as much as himself. "No, I don't think she's suicidal at all!" Though he suddenly felt the need to make sure this was the case.

Freeman nodded. "That's good to hear." She closed the drawer and locked it again, placing the key in it's rightful spot. "Now I assume you realized this already, but I will say it anyways - You must never show Marie this book or it's contents. More than anything, this book could cause her to relapse."

Edd couldn't help but voice the question that nagged his mind. "But… Professor Freeman, why do you want me to have it?" It would be as safe with him as it was with her, he would make sure of it, but he still wondered.

She smiled sadly, picking up the book and looking at it deeply, as if seeing something more than just it's cover. "…Truthfully, I have always felt guilty having it in my possession. This book was meant for Co-" She stopped herself suddenly, as if she'd made a mistake. Eddward didn't think anything of it at the moment. She continued almost normally, "-Kanker. Marie Kanker. It was meant for her, written with love for her. It belongs with her, but since that is not possible, I would like for it to at least be with someone she loved." She explained, handing the book to him.

Eddward blushed at that, especially the word 'loved'. But he took the handmade book with great care and held it against his chest. "I understand. I promise I'll take good care of it, Professor."

"Thank you Mr. DaSilva. You have my confidence, so please don't misplace it." She answered him in a tone of voice that was part pleading and part warning. "Now, I believe I've kept you long enough, I'm sure you'll have people wondering where you are by now. Good day, and good luck."

Eddward nodded, feeling that despite liking Professor Freeman much more than He-Hoped-Dearly-He-Didn't-Get-Stuck-With-Professor-Lockman, she still scared him almost as much. He quickly exited the classroom, this time more carefully than before. He almost expected a third professor to ambush him and tell him Lee was actually a space alien or something equally as absurd, but this did not happen. He made his way back to his parents without further incident, but plenty to fill his head with in the meantime. The words and attitudes of the two professors confused, shocked and scared him. All the way from the point he reunited with his parents, and all through the remainder of the tour and the drive home, he wondered and worried about Marie. Not a moment went by that she wasn't at least in the back of his mind, while he distractedly answered when people spoke to him. His parents of course noticed and asked him if he felt alright on the ride home. He answered truthfully but vaguely that he did not feel well. His mother insisted he eat something, accounting his mood to simply being out all day without time for proper nutrition between.

When they got home, she immediately set to making her family a quick and easy spaghetti dinner. Though he still worried about Marie, his mother was right after all, he had been awful hungry, and the hot meal made him feel better physically, if not mentally. But Isabella saw that her son was still unwell, and she spoke soothingly to him before bed about what she thought was the matter. Eddward decided not to trouble her with the terrible truths he'd learned that day, mostly because he knew he hardly knew the "truth" yet anyways.

"I know you must be nervous about going to a school so far away. It's a big change. But I know you'll do extraordinarily, as you always do." She smiled, those beautiful green eyes of hers sparkling. Eddward always felt blessed to have inherited them. She then gave him a foot massage, to comfort him after his long, tiring day. He sighed and leaned back against his pillows, his mother's plush, pliant hands relaxing away the aches of the long tours. It temporarily soothed away the stress on Eddward's mind, allowing him to fall asleep.

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	2. The Mysterious Mythos

(( A.N. - Sorry, this is pretty long-winded because it reveals a big chunk of the plot, but hopefully you will enjoy it. ^^ Well, get to enjoying! ;P ))

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The next day, though Edd wanted to tell Ed and Eddy the second he saw them, he waited until after school, so they could go somewhere as private as possible, and not run the risk that Marie might possible walk by and overhear them. When he got the two alone, in their clubhouse-van, even then he still double-checked several points throughout the story that no one was immediately outside the van and might have a remote chance of hearing. He explained everything he had witnessed and been told, leaving his friend's as slack-jawed by the end of it as he was sure he'd been a few times. Ed was even getting a little teary.

"Poor Marie!" He sniffled and moaned.

Edd nodded, "Yes, it's absolutely tragic, whatever it may be that happened to her and that boy years ago. But we have to make sure she's okay right now."

Eddy raised an eyebrow at that, "Hey, I'm like, worried and stuff about Marie too, but why do we 'have' to help her?" As much as Edd wanted to condemn his friend's words as simply selfish, he knew the question was a valid one, considering their past together. But he had an answer all the same.

"Eddy," He began, "The symptoms of depression started right after that accident where we hit her eye, the eye that was injured in the Incident. It's not only possible, but very likely that we may have caused a relapse in her. Oh, Eddy," Edd began to sniffle and moan now. "I feel worse about this than anything else we've ever done! We may have very seriously hurt Marie! If we really did cause a relapse, she might revert to being suicidal again, and then if she kills herself, it will be our faults!"

Eddy broke out in a light sweat at that. "…C-Come on Double-D, Marie isn't the type that would kill herself-"

Edd interrupted. "According to a seasoned psychologist, Eddy, she was, and could be again. Then again, she might be okay…" He didn't sound sure of that, but he forged on. "But we have to make sure. I have to make sure. I can't go off to college knowing I left a girl to die along the way."

"I will help, Double-D!" Ed proudly volunteered.

Eddy didn't want to deal with the Kankers, but he didn't want to be left out either. "Alright, I'll pitch in too, I guess…" He then eyed the book left behind by Marie's mysterious former beau, curiosity growing in him. "So, uh… You read the book yet?" He inquired, trying to act innocent even though he knew Edd would see through it.

Edd sighed, narrowing his eyes at his slightly younger friend, whose childish behavior sometimes made him think of the shorter male as a little brother figure. "Eddy, this book is extremely personal. It's a book of love, and it was written by a boy who died in some tragic way, it'd be disrespectful to read it."

Eddy sighed, irritation thinly veiled. "Okay, maybe a little, but the kid is dead, he isn't around to get offended, and it's not as if you stole his book, it was given to you. Besides, what if you could learn about something that could help Marie by reading the book?" He pointed out, and he knew right away that he'd scored a point, as Edd blinked a few times, temptation turning the gears in his mind and causing him to take a longing glance at the book. Eddy knew he already had him, but just to get him to hurry up, he added, "I mean, the guy has to know something about her if he loved her. Actually, WILLINGLY loved her."

Eddward still took another handful of seconds to be led to the dark side, but he eventually sighed and gingerly reached out towards the red string, pulling at the bow that kept it bound. He pulled the string away, then carefully wound it into a neat circlet and set it beside him. By then Eddy was nearly ready to grab the book from him, but Edd opened it to it's first page just in time, setting it down so that all three of the boys could read it, though Edd read aloud to them anyways.

The first page's inner half was black construction paper, and the outer half was white. The mysterious author had used white color pencil on the black paper, and black pencil on the white. Edd read, "In the Beginning of the End of the Beginning, there was nothing. Nothing except two being-like things that did exist in the nothing. One existed in a state of benevolence and pure love. The other led a hateful existence, hate for both it's cohabitant and itself. The Hateful Thing wanted only one thing more than to end it's own existence - To end the Existence of Love. But the Existence of Love was stronger than The Hateful Thing, if only by a small percent. And that small percent was enough to allow the Existence of Love to love not only itself, but The Hateful Thing too, because it understood that The Hateful Thing could not change it's nature any more than the Existence of Love could change the nature that belonged to it." Here Eddward had to stop and remark. "My, this boy was highly creative and intelligent… What a shame…" He then continued with the story. "But at the same time, the Existence of Love longed for even more love in it's existence, to distract it from The Hateful Thing, which was the only other thing besides itself in existence to experience. So one day, the Existence of Love decided to try to use it's will to bring something else into existence. It called this action 'creating', and the first existence it created was The Essence of Air." It was at this point the page ended, and Eddward took another break to sigh, "This is really, amazingly deep stuff for a kid that age to be writing…"

Then he turned the page, and his eyes widened. On this fully black page, a picture had been drawn in white, yellow, light blue and lavender pencils, and the skill level was far beyond the average of a boy that age. The picture depicted waves and spirals of the colors that one could easily interpret as a representation of the air and wind, and within the waves, a smiling face had been drawn. It looked almost human, though a gender could not be determined. Next to this picture, which took up most of the page, a box had been outlined to contain a poem and the next part of the story.

Eddward read on, "'The Essence of Air, a barely-there kiss, Of breath upon the nothingness.' Love loved it's creation so much that it was excited to try again. The strange sensation of Air's Essence upon it's being gave it the idea to make something more substantial. Much more substantial."

Here he turned the page again, and this time the page was white. Drawn on this page was the naked outline of a young female human, but it was obvious that that was not what it was, for the female creature seemed to be a chimera of Earthy colors, browns mostly with a bit of gray and green, with eyes made of almond nuts and ivy growing from her head like hair. A few flowers sprouted in her ivy-hair, one yellow, one pink, and one blue. Her poem read, "'The Catalyst of Earth, hazel eyes, hazel skin, with a spot for hazelnuts to grow, deep within.' The Earth Catalyst was solid, and Love loved her firm, heavy kisses just as much as Air's light and wispy ones. But Earth was frightened of the darkness they lived in (Though The Hateful Thing experienced itself in an expanse of white, but honestly they were the same thing at this point in "time") and she soon became sad. To remedy this, Love created for her a new being, a being to light the darkness so that Earth would not be frightened or sad. This being was called The Spirit of Fire."

Edd turned the page. His eyes met an explosion of red, orange and yellow, at the center of which was a small blue and white spirit, in the shape of a human child, perhaps a boy. The darkness receded around the outermost edges of the page, chased back by the force of light from the being. It's poem, written in red, read, "'Spirit of the Sun, of warmth and light. The heat of the hearth, the stars at night.'"

For the first time yet in the story, Ed interrupted, "What's a hearth?"

Edd paused to answer him, "It's basically a fireplace, Ed."

Eddy rolled his eyes, "Then why not just say 'fireplace'?"

Edd rolled his eyes back at him, "'Hearth' sounds better with 'heat' in the poem. Now hush." Eddy grumbled, then obeyed and Edd continued. "The Spirit of Fire lit the darkness and revealed the white nothingness beneath it, and in turn, the darkness moved to where the Hateful One was. The Hateful One actually preferred the darkness to the white, but it was angry that it was Love that had the power to control who had one. The Hateful One looked at the things the Being of Love could do, and grew even more hateful with envy. It sabotaged the Spirit of Fire by pushing him onto the Catalyst of Earth, making it burn the Earth instead of just providing her light. Earth screamed from the pain, although deep down she knew her fellow creation Fire hadn't meant to hurt her, that it was the Evil One that was the cause of her pain. The Being of Pure Love felt all the pain that its creation had to endure, and rushed to create something to help her. In this desperate moment, the creation that would result from it would complete a Perfectly Imperfect Quintessence of Nature. In that moment The Love of Good created…"

He turned the page, and was moved to gasp yet again, breathing out the title, "The Water Witch..." This picture was the most detailed so far, and the image was shocking in the similarities in appearance between the elemental goddess and the trailer park girl this book was intended for. It looked like a young version of Marie, made from a rolling deluge of water, cascading over her form like a dress, a wave curling under her chin to form her hair. He stared at the picture for a minute before remembering to read the poem, "Ahem, um-Creature of solid yet mutable magic, born of Good's plight, and Evil's delight, Chosen to end that which is tragic, And make that which is wrong, again, right. She smothered the part of Fire that consumed the Earth, And used soothing foam to heal her burned, aching turf. Whilst Air quickly intervened between her Sister Witch's steam, and blew on his Brother Fire's cold-burning injury."

This time Eddy interrupted first, snickering. "Wait, did it just say Air was a her, and then say his?"

Edd sighed. "Eddy, it's all very psychological. The element of air is so neutral that he probably couldn't decide to call it a her or a him, and probably called it both on purpose to stress that. He seems to be incredibly intelligent for his age, not to mention much more spiritual than your average child. How very curious this all is!"

Eddy sighed next. "Yeah yeah. Geez, get back to reading. I can't tell which of you two is more long winded!"

Edd felt like telling him off, but wanted to hear more of the story himself, so he continued, turning the page. "The Hateful One was infuriated that its attempt to destroy the others had failed, and it would not relent. It made Air's Essence freeze her sister the Water Witch, as revenge for her interference. It took the Spirit of Fire the equivalent of a hundred years to melt her back to normal." The picture on this page held this scene, with the Water Witch frozen into an ice statue of the goddess, her hands held up defensively, with a look of fright on her face, while the Fire Spirit blew flames at the bottom of her dress, slowly melting her. Eddward turned the page again, and there the boy had cut black and white construction paper into spiraling strips, winding them around each other. He wrote in black on the white paper, and white on the black paper.

"The One of Love was torn. For so long, only the Hateful One had existed for it to direct it's love upon. But it realized that nothing ever became of that love. It was only until Love loved itself that anything was born."

Eddy snickered, "Loved itself…"

Edd continued on as if he hadn't spoken. "And it could not stand to watch that which it loved to be harmed, even if it still loved and pitied the Hateful One, Love knew it had to leave Hate behind. Love took it's children the Elements, and using them he created a world for them to live together in, separate from the void of nothingness that Hate resided in. The Elements and their Creator played together in this new world, free of Hate. They created planets from Earth, and through trial and error, eventually made a planet that Life could grow upon. And at first Hate was content with this development, left to itself in the darkness and silence that it preferred. But Love could not separate it's world completely from Hate, it would be against the natural order of things, and that would destroy them all. So a secret portal existed between the Void of Nothingness and World that Love Created, and one day, Hate came across this portal. He spied through it, and saw all the things that Love and the Elements were doing. They had created a beautiful planet, with rich, giving Earth, cool, fresh Water, gentle Wind, and Fire, which watched over the planet and gave it light from a safe distance. The planet grew all sorts of beautiful things, plants and animals, in all kinds of interesting shapes, sizes and colors. The colors made Hate more envious than anything, except for the sounds. Hate was so hateful that it could not be content to exist in it's own environment knowing that such a beautiful place existed outside of it. So Hate began to take leftover chunks of earth from earlier planets and started to throw them at the growing planet. Hate's actions killed many species of animals that had been living on the Earth at that time. Fire became angry and tried to fight off Hate, but the planet nearly froze to death without him, just as it would die without any of the elements that it depended on. Then Hate threw a chunk of rock so big it would have destroyed the Earth if it had struck it, but it missed, and hit a nearby planet, Mercury, instead. The damage was so great that it left the planet deaf."

At this, Eddy again interrupted. "That's stupid! How can a planet be deaf? That doesn't make any sense!"

"But it does, Eddy!" Edd interrupted back, eager to correct him, excited by the book and it's mysterious writer. He'd thought the book would be full of loving sweet nothing's at first glance, but it was so much more intriguing than that. He was actually glad Eddy had made him bend his morals to read it. "The planet Mercury has no atmosphere - No atmosphere means there's nothing between the planet and the rest of space, so there is no sound on Mercury because any sound vibrations made there simply float away into the vastness of space. And, there's a gigantic crater on Mercury from where a devastatingly large meteor once hit it, one that scientists speculate could have destroyed Earth if it had hit us instead! Of course, the meteor hit Mercury because it had no atmosphere to protect it, the meteor didn't destroy the atmosphere itself, but it's still a very interesting mythical explanation, even if it is incorrect!" He cleared his throat to announce he would be continuing. "Love knew it could not allow Hate to continue it's actions. But it also knew that the portal between their worlds could not be destroyed. Not only because it would destroy the physical world, but because the Void was needed for a new and very complex creation Love had in mind. The creatures that lived on the Living Planet were many and came in all sorts of shapes and colors, but they were not self-aware, and could only be taught to do so much. Love dreamed of an animal that could do all sorts of things, so many things Love could barely keep all of it's grand ideas contained. Love knew there was a high price to pay for such a complex creature, but it was willing to pay for it."

It was time again to turn the page, and this picture was stretched across both the next page and the back of the previous page. The back of the previous page was covered in white paper, where the basic design of two loincloth-clad humans, one male and one female, were sketched out on the bottom half. They appeared to be asleep, or something similar. Above them was a black paper cloud, where ghost-like copy images of the two humans below them were drawn, eyes open and apparently awake. On the opposite page, which was cut across corner to corner, making two triangle halves, one white and one black, he again wrote in opposites black and white, per the theme. In addition, a few stray pieces of the leftover paper, in square and circle shapes big enough for one letter each, had been glued back on the opposite colors. He wrote faithfully, black on white, white on black. Edd had to admit though, it was getting a little difficult to read, even for him. "This creature was to be capable of so much due to a delicate process the Good One had designed for it. The creature's body and one of it's souls would live on the planet of paradise. But the creature also had a second soul, which resided in the Void, and acted as a sort of copy or back-up of the soul inside the body. Good knew it could not destroy the Evil One, even though it sought to destroy what it created. So it had hatched a plan, a brilliant plan. It would have to allow the Evil One to destroy what it created. So then it would have to recreate constantly. Evil would never be able to catch up, because of that simple one fraction of a percent. But the Good One had to be fair, even to Evil, to truly be Good. And because of this treaty, Evil was bound to extend the same courtesy to all Good's creations. So Evil developed a cruel but merciful habit of playing with his food, sometimes allowing the occasionally clever prey to escape. But Evil was an efficient killer, no earth-bound body and soul could avoid it's cold grip more than a few times in life, but their back-up souls in the void? Evil could not touch them. True, the Void souls were tiny compared to their former selves, but they were substantial, and slowly but surely, they had the potential to fill up the Void. This infuriated the Evil One. So the Fair trade Good had to extend was this: It would give it's first creations, the Elements, earth-bound bodies. If Evil could capture not only the bodies but the souls of the Element's earthly forms, it could take all the souls in the Void, and do with them what it liked. But it had to collect all four of the Elements to do this, not one less."

Again, Edd turned the page. The next page was completely black except for a small orb of white at it's very center. Around that in white pencil was drawn a very strange and pitiably disgusting figure who was holding the orb in it's apparent hands, though they resembled lobster claws more. It was a human-like figure, but it was bloated and lumpy, like a human shaped from clay by a child. It had no face. The sight of it immediately made Edd shiver, and Ed and Eddy huddled in closer, also afflicted with fear at the sight of it. Above and beneath the drawing the myth continued. "Evil began to create something itself in the void - Traps to be set for it's prey. They were not true creations like the Good One had made, only twisted copies of the original memories of places, which Evil had spied on through watching people's souls. But it was the first time Evil had ever created anything at all, and it caused a strange change in the Evil One. It paused it's destructive plans for a moment, and looked around at the souls that floated around it. It took one, finding it could hold it, even if it was not allowed to destroy it like it wanted to. It looked deep into the soul. It was the soul of a girl who grew up to be a woman, who fell in love with a boy who had become a man, and who had a little girl of their own together. The woman and her lover and daughter lived in the dawn of man, and so they went through harsh cold winters together, hunted and escaped from wild, hungry beasts together, were sick and treated by one another. The mother and the daughter mourned the loss of the father together when one day a beast he hunted became his hunter. The woman was so sad, but then, her girl child grew into a woman, fell in love with a man, and had a boy child herself, and she became happy again. In the woman's last moments, she protected the young son of her daughter from a gigantic crocodile, pushing him out of the pathway of the beast's jaws at the last minute, sacrificing her own life. The child got away safely, but his grandmother suffered the gruesome fate of being dragged into the river by gnashing, tearing teeth, drowned, and then eaten. Evil envied the crocodile it's tasty-looking lunch, but it also envied the woman herself. It envied her moments of happiness, it envied that she loved so much that she paid the cost she had for it. The Evil One was so conflicted by these feelings that it split into four parts."

Edd once again turned the page. The other side of the previous page was divided into four symmetrical squares. The top right square was black, and had a picture of an exaggeratedly skinny female figure, in traditional white pencil. She was so thin she looked like cross between a human and a daddy long leg spider. She looked sad and pitiful and weak. She was labeled Hunger. The picture under hers was white and had a picture of a boy in black, who was also skinny, though not as much as the girl. He could pass for an emaciated human. He was crying openly. He was titled Loneliness. Next to the girl, in white paper, there was another girl, but she was drawn in red and blue. She looked angry, downright savage, with frightening points of scarlet fury dotted into the middle of blue eyes that for a moment looked so real Edd nearly dropped the book in fear. But he righted himself. It was just a drawing. But he was also unnerved by the blue bobbed hair the female had, it made it almost resemble Marie. But more… Witchy. But older. An angry hag. She was labeled, typically, as Anger. The last bottom panel next to Loneliness was in black paper, but instead of a twin boy, there was another copy of the spidery hag. The hag was drawn in a sour mixture of yellow and green, and had a downright miserable look on her face. She was appropriately called Bitterness. Edd could almost swore he tasted something sour and vinegary just reading it.

Loneliness truly lived to his name being the only male figure on the page, and Ed even quipped at the sight of him, surrounded by the three witches, "Poor little guy! But I've felt like that a few times myself, eh, guys? One girl is hard enough to deal with, two is impossible and three is just downright scary! Ahaha!" The three pals laughed, snickered and chuckled in agreement.

The page on the opposite side was simply striped in black and white for a small relief on the eyes. Edd read, "The four parts of Evil set back on their task to capture the Elements body and soul. A short time later, Hunger ate and absorbed Anger and Bitterness, though she did not eat Loneliness. Instead she bossed him around to do work for her, and Loneliness was so desperate for attention and afraid that she'd eat him if he disobeyed, he obeyed every command the Beldam gave him. Together, they built the first trap…"

Edd turned the page. The next picture was a disturbing one. It showed a pretty young girl with faerie wings, who was tangled in a spider's web, which Hunger, apparently now the Beldam, was climbing down towards her. Edd found himself hoping that the girl would escape, even though her fate was frozen before his eyes, and the text he read confirmed what he was afraid to hear. "The first Element to be caught was the Essence of Air, who had taken a form that would allow her to fly. But thanks to the Beldam's wickedness, her wings dried away as her blood was sucked from her body, and her wings turned to dust and blew away. When she lost her wings, she lost her spirit, and the Beldam took her soul and locked it away in an dark, cold place. A few hundred years later, the Beldam found the Spirit of Fire."

Eddward turned the page to a drawing of a very young boy, not much more than a toddler. He was walking towards the dark hollow of a tree, where the Beldam waited. The front of her was exposed to light, and bore a happy smile, holding out a red tulip for the boy. Behind her back, in the shadows, a spidery hand held a carving knife. In the distant corner of the page, a young woman had her hands by her mouth, apparently calling for the boy. Edd read on, "The wicked Beldam stole the warmth from his spirited heart with an even more complicated trap than before. Capturing the Essence of Air had temporarily filled Hunger, not only with the filling of food and sustenance, but with all the love, happiness and contentment that Air had experienced in her life. It was an experience she'd never felt before and became desperately addicted to, and it mutated her just as Anger and Bitterness had when she absorbed them. Now she didn't want to just eat the children. She wanted to love them too. The Beldam caught the Spirit of Fire when he was very young and vulnerable, barely out of toddlerhood. After she captured Fire's earthly form, she tried to love the boy by giving him all he desired, imitating his mother. He was won by her kindness, and agreed to stay and let her love him. But when he realized he was trapped, he also realized that she was a poor imitation at best compared to his real mother. He missed his real mother, and he cried and cried for her without end until the Beldam lost her patience with him and devoured the boy. Then she locked away his soul in the same dark place she'd put the Essence of Air."

Edd once again turned the page, chills rolling down his spine reading all this. Why would someone create something like this for their childhood sweetheart? At first it was complimentary to Marie somewhat, comparing her to an elemental goddess, but now, things were getting very dark and scary… But then again, they had been that way in part from the start, as illustrated by the next page, which was split into black and white down the middle. On the white half a pretty brown girl in a plain brown dress was also calling, crying openly. In the black half the Beldam held a ghostly copy of the girl in her spidery-arms and claw-like hands. The captured girl had one arm free, trying to reach the girl in the other half of the page, but she could not. The text and Edd read, "The trap set for the Catalyst of Earth was the most cruel. The Earth girl had been raised as a slave all her life. She lived off of scraps, and was worked to her limit every day. Sometimes she was even beaten. The Beldams offer was of things the girl thought she would never have. The poor girl handed her life away, and her twin sister had to experience the revolution of the times without her. The twin prospered, but she was never as happy as she would have been with her sister. The Evil Beings were pleased. They only needed one more child to achieve their goal. Only one more simple little soul, so easily won over by their vain comforts."

Edd turned the page. In the middle was an impressive likeness of the basic form of the Water Witch (though it eerily resembled the Beldam, too, but Edd know it was the Water Witch right away, though the text reaffirmed that later), in black paper. Around her was originally white paper, but it had been made alive with color, blue and green and a little purple too. In the black paper the story resumed in, not traditional white, but sea green. "But the Dark Ones underestimated their final opponent. They did not realize that the Water Witch was different from the Others. Her elemental siblings did not view her that way, but she knew it to be true. The first three had been created out of inspiration and love, but she, she had been created to combat the Evil One when it had attacked. And she was in essence a combination of all three that came before her. She was almost as malleable as Air, and could turn herself to Air with Fire's help. She could make herself solid like Earth, and when frozen, she burned like Fire. Besides that, her avatar was a clever girl (despite the occasional spelling mistake!) and understood things about the Dark Ones that they didn't know about themselves. She was also courageous, not fearless mind you, but willing to meet fears head on and deal with them. And because fortune favors the bold, so was she fortunate due to her courageous acts. It was a good thing that she was so gifted, for though one is never given more than they can handle, the Water Witch was destined to be tested to her limits. But even still, she did not curse her fate. Though she had been chosen to confront Evil, she was blessed with the Love of Good…" At this point Eddward was more curious than ever before. He wanted to see how the Water Witch, obviously Marie's character in this creative little heavenly drama that her childhood sweetheart had created, would thwart the Evil Ones and restore balance. He turned the page with enthusiasm and excitement…

But the page was blank white. He blinked owlishly. There was still a third of the book's pages remaining. Edd turned the next page. It was the same. He flipped through the rest, but it was the same, sad case, all blank white.

Eddy also blinked, then shouted, "Rrr, what gives? We had to listen to that long-winded snore fest, and there wasn't even an ending? How lame!"

Edd flicked Eddy's thick head. "Eddy! Remember the fate of the author of this book! He very likely didn't finish the book because he…" Edd paused and twiddled his thumbs, not wanting to say it. But he knew he had to, so he did. "…Because he died before he could finish it…"

Eddy blinked and looked just a little bit shamed after. "Oh, yeah…"

Ed was shivering. "Guys, that book was creepy! Even creepier than the monster from 'It Ate My Mom's Underwear", the direct to TV movie."

Edd couldn't help but agree with his friend, even though he had never seen "It Ate My Mom's Underwear", the book left him more disturbed than any poem Poe had ever written. And more frustrating than that it had not answered a single question that Edd had hoped it would. In fact he found that it left even more questions unanswered in his mind, and added more fears and concerns to settle there. He wondered, were the characters in the book simply the products of a young boy's imagination, or was it possible that Marie was not the only character who was based off of a real person? But if that were the case, it scared Eddward even more, for what angry, bitter, hungry witch could be the inspiration for the wicked Beldam? Edd knew that many children used their creative outlets to express what was going on in their own personal lives. He couldn't believe that a boy that age would devote the time it would take to create such a detailed philosophical book simply for the fun of it. The book seem like the kind of thing a much older person would write in contemplation of their beliefs towards the end of their lives. That in itself scared Eddward, because then did it mean the boy knew he was going to die soon? 'Highly unnatural' is what Dr. Freeman had said, well what could be more unnatural than murder? Of course he didn't want to jump to conclusions, but the memory of her scratched eye was so vivid in his mind, how else could she have gotten such a gruesome injury? And anyways the book couldn't have been a simple school project, as no school would have any student writing about such a topic. And there was something about the book, and Edd couldn't describe why he felt the way he did about it, but he was certain that it was based on real events and real people, even though the story was hidden in the form of a myth. He felt something else too, he couldn't quite place it, so he just chalked it up to the thrill and chill of a mystery waiting to be solved. Edd closed the book and tied its red string back around in just the way it's original owner had, over and across, and tied in a bow at its center. Then he carefully slipped the book into his book bag. "Well gentlemen," he announced, rising to his feet and dusting off his bottom ."Though I do feel intellectually and spiritually enlightened, we are not yet any closer to helping Marie. I'm afraid this means we will have to take a more up close and personal approach. Ed, you have physical education with May in the mornings, correct?" Ed nodded. "Good. Then my friend, would you mind speaking to her tomorrow? Don't make it obvious that you're only concerned about Marie, but ask her in general how she and her sisters have been. And Eddy, you have home economics with Lee at fifth period don't you?"

Eddy groaned. "You want me to try and get dirt on her crazy cyclops sister while she's got a spatula in her hands? And God help me if she's got any eggs! Do you know what that chick can do with eggs Double D?"

Eddward raised a disturbed (but secretly slightly amused) eyebrow at his shorter friend. "Eddy, I really don't want to know… And don't make fun of her eye. It's not funny to make fun of people with scars." He stated very pointedly.

Eddy rolled his eyes back at him, but did feel slightly bad deep down about his last remark. "Alright, ya pansy. I didn't even get to what I've seen her do with honey..." He smirked at the disturbed twitch of his friend's eye before going on. "And just what are you going to be doing sock head?"

Double D steeled himself bravely, clutching the book to his chest. "I'm going to be speaking to Marie directly, of course. I know she said she didn't want to speak to us ever again, but we've been in each other's art class for two years now, and we've had to speak to each other at some points, so maybe she's not as mad as she used to be? Well, hopefully…" He tried to sound like he believed what he was saying.

Eddy made it clear he didn't. "Whatever you say, Double D." He deadpanned, rolling his eyes. "But you so owe me for this."

Edd scrunched up his nose in distaste at his friend. "I thought your scamming days were over Eddy."

"Scam nothing! I'm doing my fair part, so you owe me some favor in return sometime." Eddy argued back.

Edd rolled his eyes, "Oh fine. As long as it's no more strenuous than what I'm asking of you."

Eddy peered at him. "You do realize this is Lee Kanker we are talking about here?"

Edd matched his peer. "A teenage girl, Eddy?"

"A ginger, Sock-head! The redheads are always more feisty and aggressive! Just look at Sarah!"

Edd pointed to their gentle giant friend, who's hair was almost the same shade of 'ginger' as his sister's, with just a touch of brown. Edd liked to assume his hair was a mix of his mother's true ginger color (she dyed it every now and again) and his father's brown, and not, well, the result of his usual hygiene habits. But those had improved a bit over the years, so Edd have him the benefit of a doubt. "Just look at Ed, Eddy! He's not aggressive!"

"He can be!" Eddy argued back.

Ed interrupted their back-and-forth there. "Everyone has their dark side, Eddy." He pointed out fairly. "And stop being such a wimp. Hair color isn't the point and you know it. May and Marie are just as feisty as Lee. You're just too chicken to go talk to her." He smirked.

Edd smirked with his friend, who reminded him regularly that he was not as dumb as he looked. Eddy on the other hand, fumed. "I'll show you chicken! You still totally owe me."

Edd agreed, just to shut his loud-mouthed German-Russian friend up. Trying to get either one of those proud people to give the last word over was near impossible, when the two mixed, it became completely unachievable. Then the three of them split ways for home. Edd made himself a cup of chamomile tea after putting away the book in his nightstand, to calm his nerves and help him get to sleep after reading the disturbing tale.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

As Eddward lay dreaming in his bed that night, he found his subconscious drifting through some woods. The sky above him was a formless grey, with neither sun nor clouds. Just grey. The trees in the woods were nearly as colorless themselves, the bark a dark brown-black sepia. None of the trees had any leaves on their claw-like branches. It scared Edd, a bit, but he reminded himself that they were only trees, trees in a dream, for Edd was that kind of lucid dreamer than could usually tell when they were dreaming. Though wandering aimlessly, Eddward eventually found himself standing before one particular tree, which seemed taller than the others, more brown than black than the others - It seemed more alive than the others. Upon the bark, at about a foot below Edd's height, a simplistic heart had been carved, along with the letters "WC" inside of it. Edd ignored his inner-Ed, which joked about the double meaning those two letters carried together.

Crouching down a bit to be at eye level with the carving, Edd reached out to trail his fingers along the letters inside. He'd almost finished tracing the 'W', when a sliver of bark caught onto his finger-flesh and pricked him, causing a single drop of blood to fall on the tree as Edd took back his hand, inspecting it with great interest. Never before had he really hurt himself in a dream. And never before had it felt so strange, so… Almost real.

He stared at the droplet of blood on the tree. It was bright red, and the tiny drop of liquid looked more alive than the whole forest around it. But then the droplet disappeared, sucked into the last line of the 'W'. Then Eddward stared in wonder as the tree began to sprout a few bright green leaves. It made the tree look even more alive than the sad sepia trees around them, whose branches creaked jealously despite there being no breeze.

Yet suddenly there was a breeze, a chilling breeze that passed by Eddward's ears, whispering one strange sentence, one queer question: "Why were you born…?"

Edd woke up very suddenly, back in his room, in the dark. Eddward hadn't been afraid of the dark for years, but he immediately turned on the light. Everything was as it should be, nothing was out of place from the way it had been. Except for one small thing. There was a very slight throb coming from the tip of his index finger. When Edd looked down at it, he saw that he'd somehow procured a shallow cut there.

He shivered. "…Must have nicked it on the headboard, or something…" He reasoned with himself in that half-sleep state where Eddward didn't always require himself to make perfect sense. Then he turned off the light again and laid back down to sleep.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO


	3. Love on Track, Life on Canvas

The next day, the three Eds went to school with a mission. Ed ate his breakfast and jogged out to the track, where May was already doing her stretches to prepare for the Mile Run. As the students began the run, Ed ran in line with May, secretly giving her hand a quick squeeze. "Hey May."

May blushed, looking up at her temporarily secret boyfriend. They'd started dating earlier that year, but had agreed to keep it secret until graduation. "Hey Big Ed!" She returned the greeting, giving him a quick peck on the cheek when the other students had run ahead of them. "How ya been? Sorry I couldn't go with you to the county fair last week! I really did want to…" Her bottom lip wavered.

"Aww, I know you did." Ed soothed his sweetheart, rummaging in the pockets of his gym shorts and pulling something out, hiding it in his fist. "That's why I got you this." He smiled, holding his fist out.

Eyes wide, May held her hand outstretched underneath, catching the item as Ed let it fall there. It was a stone, amethyst to be exact, in the shape of a donut. The hole in the stone was just big enough to peer an eye through. Attached to the crystal was a silver chain, at the end of which was a little silver cage, and inside the cage was another stone, a golden-brown tiger's eye, in the shape of a seven-pointed star, also known as a merkaba, which spun as the wind passed through the cage. Below the merkaba was a cone-shaped rose quartz stone, with the point of the cone aiming towards the ground.

May gasped with delight at the sight of it, hooking a finger in the amethyst donut-hole and letting the cone-shaped rose quartz swing. "A pendulum! I've been wanting one of these, for, like, ever!" She was sorely tempted to jump her boyfriend's bones, but she restrained herself, vowing to do it later when she could really properly thank him. But for the moment, it sufficed to simply tell him, "Thank you, Ed. You're the best boyfriend ever."

Ed grinned back at the girl. May was interested in witchcraft and Wicca and other such archaic practices. Though most people, misinformed people, would see May in a negative light for this, it was only because they didn't understand. But Ed did. He knew it was a matter of spirituality for her, and that any spells May did cast were purely white magic. It was for that reason that, in private, Ed sometimes called her 'his white witch'. Besides, May wasn't just a magical girl, she had her practical side too. She had the ambition of someday becoming a teacher, although she hadn't decided yet whether she'd rather major in Physical Education or Science. Though to be honest, when May played around with her chemistry sets, she looked as much like a witch as when she played with her tarot cards and crystals.

But to be honest, not only did Ed accept her for her (and her sister's…) witchy ways, he found it was one of the many things about her he liked best. Edd was a skeptic who was always looking for a logical explanation to the unknown and all but refused to believe in magic except in the few rare occasions where those same forces gave him no other explanation, and Eddy was a chump and a chicken, despite many other redeeming qualities, so whenever something truly unexplainable and neat was going on, he either wanted to turn it into a scam or run from it. But May believed in the more mysterious forces in the universe, and though she deeply respected them, she wasn't afraid of experimenting with them. Not only that, but more often than not, May's spells actually even worked. True, they were mostly simple spells, but Ed still thought it was super cool.

The pendulum was something new for her, though. Pendulums had several uses, among those was the power to contact the spirit world for answers to questions, like a Ouija Board. They had had Ouija boards at the Mystical Arts exhibit at the fair too, but they were out of Ed's price range, and he thought, being a girl and all, May would like the pretty gemstone pendulum better. By the looks of her, now playfully peering through the amethyst stone's donut hole, he'd been right.

Edd would protest the lack of scientific evidence behind the idea that a few crystals on a chain could have a mind of it's own and clairvoyant powers beside that, but the hypnotizing way the rose quartz pendulum swung back and forth in front of May's "Nearly" D-cups made a believer out of Ed. In fact it was the company May bought her braziers from that Ed was inclined to disbelieve. He sure as heck didn't believe in their idea of the "32-D' bra size. They all looked like C's to him.

But Ed's big brain stopped his train of thought just in time. Boobs were not the issue he was supposed to be focusing on this morning. "So May, how's Lee and Marie been?" He asked as nonchalantly as possible, hoping she wouldn't catch on to the fact that he didn't usually inquire about them. Not that he didn't care about her sisters too, but their time together was usually limited, so they focused on each other.

But a strange, sad look crossed her face as her lover-boy brought them up. She was quiet for a moment, and Ed almost poked her for attention, until she finally looked up. "I know you've noticed. Like anyone hasn't… Marie hasn't been herself since that day, has she?" Now the sadness in her eyes morphed into guilt. "We didn't think much of it at first, me and Lee. At first we thought she was just mad and sad at you guys. Then we thought she'd just changed. Toned down, yanno? We asked her if she was okay, and she told us she was just focusing on school, so we just let her do that. She didn't act strange at home, so we didn't think there was anything to worry about. But lately…" May stopped and looked behind her, quieting down for a moment while a few speedy students passed them, then continued. "Lately she's been acting… Depressed. Afraid. She jumps at every little thing, and she's been training with all her weapons, as if she thinks someone is going to attack her. And her eating habits changed, too. I mean, we all agreed last year to try and eat less processed food and more good-for-you stuff, even though on our budget that's usually only two meals a day. But she puts the weirdest stuff on her food sometimes! The other day, she made a pizza, right? And she put all the regular stuff on it, tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, ham," May snorted her approval, "Bell pepper and onions - But then, get this," May hissed, so that Ed would lean in to listen. "She put… PINEAPPLE on it!"

Ed gasped loudly, apparently, like May, finding this little quirk the oddest and therefore most worrisome change in the bluenette girl. Californians generally found it delicious. But Ed thought, "That is the weirdest thing I have ever heard! There's something seriously wrong with your sister, May!" He cried sympathetically.

May quickly put her hand over her lovable boyfriend's mouth to quiet him. "But that's not even the worst thing…" She whispered, eyes starting to get misty. "She's been having nightmares lately… And… Oh lord," Suddenly May stopped running in the direction of the track. She grabbed Ed by his gym shirt's sleeve and led him in the direction she was going. She ducked them both behind the bleacher seats, where they could talk for at least a few minutes in private. "Ed, I gotta tell you the truth about something. I gotta get it off my chest, I gotta tell someone I can trust… Look, I know you'll tell Edd and Eddy, because they're always involved, but promise you won't tell anyone else and promise you'll tell that big-mouth Eddy that you'll kick his ass if he tells anyone, okay?"

"I'll tell him I'll kick him in the ass and the face, in that order, if he tells." He promised. And that was a promise he would keep.

Despite being reassured, it still took May a few seconds to gather to the courage to begin to speak. "The t-truth is, Ed… Marie… She…" She began to clam up, afraid to say it, so Ed gathered her against him, hugging her securely so she would feel safe. It worked, and she suddenly sobbed out, "She isn't our sister, Ed! She's not," She corrected herself quickly, "Our biological sister… Marie's my cousin. Our dads were brothers. She didn't come to live with us until she was nine, and me and Lee had only seen her a couple times before that at family get-togethers… But our Ma, she sat us down and told us that something really bad had happened to Marie's parents. She said they both… Died." Ed stared down at his girlfriend intensely, worried and empathetic and sickened all at once. Double-D had stumbled across something deep and dark here, he realized. If more than one person had died in this tragic occurrence, murder was the most likely explanation. May went on, "Mom said that Marie was so sad about losing them that it made her really sick. She said the only way to make Marie better again was so erase all of her memories of her parents, of her whole childhood. Her whole life. She said that they would put a few false memories of growing up with us in her head, and that we were to act like Marie was our real sister, and never, ever, ever tell her she wasn't. Of course me and Lee never would. We loved Marie as if she were our own sister. We felt so sorry for her, because of what happened to her parents. Our first night together…" She hugged Ed close to her too. "We'd just seen her again for the first time in years… But we all sat down together, and acted like everything was almost normal. That she'd just had an accident and gotten back from the hospital. That the extra chair at the table had always been there. We ate dinner, and then after that…" She smiled fondly, even chuckled a bit, and looked up at her boyfriend. "Big Ed, do you remember that ship in a bottle you got your finger stuck in that one time?" He nodded. "We made it that night."

He smiled back down at her at that. "Hah, so that's why you guys did so much property damage to get it back!"

"You Eds really don't have room to talk about property damage." She reminded him, but smiled. "Even mom helped us build it, so it really was like it was part of the whole family."

"I know how you feel, May." Ed petted her hair soothingly. "Edd and Eddy have always been like brothers to me. I'd feel really bad if they were sick or in pain, and I know they feel the same way. But they're also worried about Marie too. They feel bad that she's been so sad lately. Especially Edd."

May giggled a little, though the sound was cautious not to be too mirthful. "I bet even after almost two years of sulking, Marie would still be glad to hear that Double-D is worried about her."

"Haha," Ed snuggled up to her, "I bet Double-D would do anything to make Marie feel better again…"

May snuggled closer, nuzzling her cheek to Ed's. "I bet it would make Marie real happy to hear Double-D say that. She always liked him best, just like I always liked you best… "

Ed nuzzled her even closer, the corner of his lips touching Marie's, "I bet, Double-D…" He paused, thinking, then laughed again. "Likes Marie more than he thinks he does, haha~"

May snort-giggled, "Well that's Double-D's problem - He thinks too much. Some things you just gotta…" She closed the distance between her and Ed's lips, but just before she did, she sighed out, "Feel~"

They smooched for several seconds, although it only felt like a couple to them, before they were interrupted by the shrill scream of the PE teacher's whistle. "Hey you kids! Back on the track! Six feet apart, come on, you know the drill, move it, move it!"

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Eddy really didn't want to talk to Lee. Really. Not today. They were supposed to be making bread pudding or something like that that day, but the teacher had gotten sick and the substitute didn't know crap about cooking. She'd told the class to make a batch of scrambled eggs and over easy eggs.

Eggs. It just had to be eggs.

Normally Eddy liked eggs. In fact, he really loved them. All cooked up in a pan full of salty butter, fluffy and crispy and spiced up with black pepper and hot sauce. But Lee Kanker with eggs was terrifying. It wasn't what she made with the eggs that was so bad, in fact, Lee and her sisters were all terrific cooks, and Lee had even won the school second place in a baking competition with a blueberry-peach pie with a Swedish-style cardamom shortbread crust. And hell, even though he'd been skeptical about how she seasoned her eggs with dill, that is, the stuff in dill pickles, instead of pepper, when he tried it himself it actually wasn't half bad. No, it wasn't what Lee made with the eggs that Eddy found so horrible.

It was how she handled the eggs while she was making it…

It was how she always handled the eggs whenever she knew he was watching her.

At first she would inspect them, scrutinize them really. She would scratch off any speck of dirt, one by one. Then two by two she would rinse them under the faucet. And while she was washing the eggs, she would roll the two eggs in her palm, blatantly. Once all the eggs had been properly washed, she would dry them, breath on them, then give them one last polish dry. And then, with the greatest of pleasure, she would massacre them. Sometimes she'd crack them against the edge of the bowl or pan. Sometimes she would use the butcher knife give them one good whack. Sometimes she would use her bare hands alone, digging a finger into the shell, then, pulling the two sad halves apart. And sometimes, she even used this practically medieval device on the most unfortunate of eggs, which would break off the top, then a corkscrew-looking thing would go inside the egg and scramble the innards. Eddy had nearly gotten sick all over himself the first time he'd seen her use that thing.

Sweating profusely, Eddy approached her during class, when the student were free to work on their recipes. He was sure she was done with the eggs, as she was stirring a bowl of batter. Her back was to him. He stood behind her for a moment, not saying anything, not wanting to say anything. But Double-D would chew him out for the details later, so he sighed and just got to it. "Um, h-hey L-Lee, how's it going-Hey, listen," He went on without listening to her response first. "I have, um, a friend of a friend, and he's noticed how Marie's been all mopey and stuff lately, and he was wondering if she's okay? Like, in the head? Cause if she's not, maybe medicine or something might be a good ide-"

Lee cut him off suddenly, turning on him in a flash. And she had a pair of eggs, resting between the index, middle and ring finger of her left hand. Eddy gulped, shutting up immediately at the foreboding sight.

Lee grinned, "Aww, ain't my little man a big sweetheart? Well since you're so concerned, help me crack these eggs~" She reached out, rapping the eggs none-too-gently against Eddy's sweaty forehead, making him wince. Then she turned away from him once more, adding the eggs to the bowl and stirring them in. She spoke as she did so, "Marie don't need no medicine, and there ain't nothing wrong with Marie. She just seems mopey cause she's settled down since she was a kid. She wants to make something of herself, so she's focusing on school instead of BOYS." She stressed the last word, then grinned a grin that Eddy wouldn't like at all if he could see it. "But why don't you tell me why you really came over here Eddy~"

He raised an eyebrow. "W-What are you talking about?"

"Admit it, you big lovable grease monkey~" She turned around suddenly, her lips coated with a thick coat of butter like lip gloss, puckering up at him. "You just wanted to butter me up!"

Eddy screamed, and high-tailed it out of the entire class, leaving his partner to salvage their half-baked cake.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

At the last period of the day, art class in Eddward and Marie's case, Edd watched the girl so intently that day that he hardly paid attention to his own assignment. The current subject was "Life". Each student was to draw a picture of what that meant to them. Though the subject was one he could draw several very poignant pictures for, Eddward had been halfheartedly finishing his picture of a mother and child - His own mother and an infant version of himself, truthfully, and it was a heartfelt piece all the same, but he was much more enamored with Marie's work. Truthfully, he'd always secretly studied Marie's drawings in this class. Hers versus his art skills was to compare skills themselves to true talent. Eddward taught himself how to draw. From Marie, it was natural. The picture she'd drawn for the subject was a strange and interesting mix of reality and fantasy. It depicted a frog on a lily pad, it's tongue in mid flight, reaching for a spider in a web, who was itself advancing on a little fairy-girl, who looked a little like both Lee and May, with blonde but curly hair, that had gotten caught in the web. Though Edd did not harbor the hatred for spiders that many humans, including Marie, did, he still liked her piece. The fairy girl would get away with her life, whilst the spider who intended to eat her would feed and sustain the frog. Eddward felt just a little bad for the spider, but Marie had drawn it with an evil look in it's eight red eyes, and so apparently she didn't feel sorry for it, and the point was to feel good that the humanoid fairy girl got away. Besides the near-realistic look of the animals, her style in this picture almost Victorian, there was also the scenery around them to marvel. The water lilies and cat tails and tiger irises around the pond were all beautifully near-realistic, and as she had painted them all so beautifully. She was now working on the last iris, mixing purple and yellow into the petals.

Cautiously, when the teacher was busy and distracted tending to another student at the other side of the class, Eddward rushed over the two seats to Marie's side. She immediately noticed him coming over, her eyes darting from her painting to him. He quickly and quietly whispered, "Marie, can I see you after class please?"

Of course curiosity alone wouldn't allow Marie not to agree to his request, especially because it was him. Him. Even after nearly two years of silence, she still felt what he'd always made her feel… She nodded slightly, and just once. "Okay."

Though a little worried by what Edd interpreted as a disinterested response, he accepted it and returned to his own seat. He waited impatiently for class to end, the twenty minutes left seeming like an hour, and he hurriedly painted in his mother's sepia, brown-black hair. Normally his paintings looked close to realistic, his hurry in painting his mother's hair made it look a little less so. He resigned himself to the displeasure of what he deemed a hack job, and turned it in in as much a hurry at the end of the day.

Marie was waiting for him outside the classroom. He motioned for her to follow him, and she did, but kept a couple steps behind him. He led her around the side of the school to the trash cans. Not the nicest place for a reunion, but it was sure to be secluded. Even so, Edd lifted the trash can's lid to check for any of the school's crazies (or more likely, Ed) that might be lurking inside for god knows what reason.

"So." Marie spoke up as he was pulling his head out the garbage can, her arms crossed and her eyes looking the opposite direction. "What's up?" She asked simply.

Edd turned to her, and simply looked at her for a moment. She had a different look to her than she'd once had. She still mostly wore a lot of black - Not because she was gothic or anything like that, it was because few colors matched with her rare blue-tinted hair as well, though she was known to wear blue, green, and occasionally red or yellow. Today she was all blue. Blue jeans, a royal blue tank top, and a navy blue windbreaker. Eddward shuddered a little realizing how like the Water Witch she looked right now. After putting up with his scrutiny for well up to a minute, she finally turned her eyes in his direction, looking at him inquisitively, and snapping him out of it.

"Ah, um," He stammered, then cleared his throat and started again. "Marie. How have you been?"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "That's not why you called me out here." She pointed out.

"Actually, in part, it is." He corrected her, then repeated himself. "How have you been?"

Her lip curled downwards. "I'm fine." She answered simply, with virtually no emotion in her voice.

He didn't believe her. But perhaps the straightforward approach wasn't the best one to take. "And Lee and May, they've both been fine too, I trust?" She nodded wordlessly. "Good, good… So what are you guys planning to do after graduation? What are your plans for the future?"

She fixed an odd look on him, silent for a moment, as if wondering whether to answer him or not. Finally she began to speak, "May wants to go to school to become a teacher. Lee is going to go to beauty college to become a cosmetologist." She paused there.

Edd waited for her to finish her answer. Finally he spoke up, "What about you?"

She was still silent for a few minutes after that. At last she breathed out a heavy sigh. "Honestly? I still don't know." She answered sullenly, crossing her arms.

Edd blinked owlishly in surprise, almost unable to believe it. So close to graduation, and Marie still hadn't decided what to do? He could hardly believe it - Marie, like her sisters, had many skills and talents. Off the top of memory, he knew she was apt at mechanics, painting, reading and literature(she'd read a few interesting poems before - Edd wished he had written them down now.), cooking, cosmetics and beauty, sewing… Edd stopped there. He was getting a little uneasy realizing just how smart each girl actually was. Which made it all the more alarming that Marie's growing depression and indecision was holding her back. "But why not?" He asked her incredulously.

She looked uncomfortable. She gripped her biceps, making her already defensive-looking crossed arms look like a personal cage. "Just… Still not sure. There's just so much out there. So much I could do that I'm not sure where to start."

Ah. Well that was the opposite side of the coin, Edd guessed. But still he could tell that not all was right with Marie, that there was much she was holding back. Edd had to know. "Marie, are you alright? I've been worried about you." He confessed. "You haven't seemed quite yourself in a while." Two years worth of while. He was ashamed he had waited this long to ask her, dark history or not.

Something seemed to grip Marie. Her eyes suddenly watered, and Edd's heart jumped a beat and his throat tightened. Oh no. Please, he begged, don't let her cry. He didn't like seeing any girl cry, or boy for that matter (well, most of the time), but it would be especially painful to see on Marie, after dealing with the loss of the boy who loved her, then having the memory erased from her mind. But she didn't cry. She remained quiet for a moment in order to compose herself, then began to speak quietly. "I'm okay, Double-D, it's just…" She stopped, gripped by uncertainty again for a moment.

"Just what, Marie?" Edd encouraged her. "Whatever it is, you can tell me."

She sighed a long, heavy sigh, and began again. "It's just… That day…" The both knew which day. "I remembered something…" Edd froze. Marie went on. "I remembered that I forgot something. But, Double-D…" Here two tears finally fell after her valiant efforts to keep them back, and Eddward's throat went tight. But Marie went on despite the tears and her own tight throat. "I can't believe it… Somehow, for years, I'd been just living my life like a normal kid and teenager… I didn't think much about the scar on my eye, I just always kept it hidden. Maybe I was even hiding it from myself. But that day, I just suddenly realized out of the blue-" She choked a little on the welling emotions, and more tears began to fall. Eddward wanted to badly to reach out and hold her, comfort her, but she still wasn't done speaking, and he wasn't completely sure if she'd want him to anyways. "I just realized that I didn't remember my early childhood at all! My first memory ever is coming home from the hospital to Ma and Lee and May, and we all sat down and made that ship-in-a-bottle… I was ten. That's not right, is it, Double-D?" She finally looked him right in the eyes, tears and all. "I should have memories of being a little-little kid. I knew how to roller skate when I was ten. But I don't remember when I learned it and who taught me!"

Edd finally took it upon himself to cut in, desperate to get her to calm down. "Marie, I'm truly, truly sorry this hurts you so. You likely lost those memories in the accident that caused that scar." He felt a jab of shame, lying to her, be he swore to make up for this, somehow. "But you needn't be so upset about not remembering. Your mother or father most likely taught you how to roller skate, right?"

He had thought this was the right thing to say, and though Marie really did appreciate his efforts, it wasn't. "But I don't remember my mom or dad! I've seen pictures of my dad, but… I really don't think he looks much like me, and I have no memories of him. Ma said he died when I was little, so I can't make new memories. And… God, Double-D, I know this is messed up, but my Ma…" She sniffled wetly, and stepped in closer towards Edd, into his personal space. He went a little pink, but composed himself, realizing she was doing it for further privacy as she began to speak almost in a whisper. "Sometimes… Sometimes it feels like she's not my real mother." Eddward's eyes went wide at the shocking statement. "I know it's awful! I listen to her and I do my chores and my homework, I'm a good daughter, but when I look at her, and I look at pictures of my dad, and then look at myself in the mirror… I feel like a jigsaw puzzle piece that doesn't fit in the picture. I don't feel like that with May and Lee." She quickly added, "But my Ma… I just… I'm so sorry!" She suddenly exclaimed, apparently apologizing more to her 'Ma' and her own sense of decency than to Eddward, and brought her hands up quickly to cover her face as she began to sob, hiding behind them.

Edd didn't listen to his reserved side any longer. He reached out and pulled the girl into a tight hug, placing one hand on the back of her head and leading her face to his shoulder. Amazing. Directly before the accident he would have never initiated such close contact himself, but under the circumstances, he found he not only wanted to, but needed to. "You don't have to be sorry for that, Marie." He whispered, burying his face against the crook of her neck and shoulder, two fat tears finally spilling over from his eyes. "You don't have to be sorry for anything…"

She stiffened as he said that, and though she did not pull away, even dropped her hands from her eyes and accepted his shoulder to cry against, she did not wrap her arms around him, but instead let them hang loosely by her sides. "I don't have to be sorry for anything…" She repeated, then added, "But I should be. Double-D, we both know I've done some awful things-"

Edd interrupted her, "You teased me and pulled pranks on me, occasionally gave me scrapes and bruises, and kissed me - My own best friends have done all that to me. You didn't do anything I couldn't handle, you never went so far out of line that I'd say you deserve the pain you feel now."

She was quiet for a moment, then, out of the blue, she snorted into a brief giggle. "Ed and Eddy have kissed you?"

His cheeks turned red, but Edd had never been a homophobe. He wasn't gay either, well, at least not more than he was straight. He'd always believed in 'It's not, are you gay? It's, how gay are you?' Edd liked to think he maintained at least 90% straightness at all times. The other kids in the Cul-de-sac thought it was more like 60-40. "I assure you, they initiated it, and I certainly would prefer a hundred kisses from you than one kiss from any guy. Hell, I'd prefer a kiss from Olga the lunch lady than any guy…"

Marie was quiet for a moment, then giggled a little more. "…Hell, Double-D? And, 'guy'? When did you start being so informal?"

"That'd be Ed and Eddy's doing as well." He admitted, now smiling as she secretly was, the tears seeming to have stopped for now. "Marie, to be honest, in hindsight the attention you showed me when we were kids was always more good than bad. So you roughed me up a bit. A boy should be able to take a slight beating from a girl. And so you forced me into nearly a thousand mostly unwanted kisses - I was never the most popular kid in the cul-de-sac, so it probably helped my self-esteem a great deal to have a girl that liked me like that. Even if I was too young and immature to understand or return those feelings."

"It's okay," She sighed. "It really is, Double-D. The fact is, you were far more mature than me. I don't know what me and the girls were thinking then anyways. What could you and the Ed's do for me and the girls, and what could we do for you? It was a silly childish idea, wanting to marry you guys and play house. I guess since me and the girls never had our dad's around, we always dreamed of having the perfect husbands, and well…" She blushed finally reached up, returning Edd's hug. "You just seemed so perfect to me, Double-D… You were above all a good person, but you were also super-smart. I always admired your intelligence. It didn't help that you really were super cute." She giggled, finally pulling back a bit to see his face, and the blush now creeping up on it, but kept her arms wound around his torso as she went on. "And your family always seemed so perfect. A mom and a dad together. I've always wanted that. I want to give any kids of mine that. But it's as important to support your child financially as it is emotionally. No offense Double-D, but you didn't get as smart as you are by talent alone. Your parents work hard to provide you the money for everything you need. I want to be that supportive to a child someday, but it's was foolish, childish naivety that made me think the first boy I ever had a crush on would be the one I would marry."

She pulled away from him, then held up her hand, her palm facing Edd's line of sight. "Though part of me still admires and cares for you deeply, we differ a lot. You see this-" She pointed to the side of her hand, by her pinkie finger. "In palm reading, this is the part of your hand that tells you how many people you'll fall in love with. I have two lines." She pointed the two out. "You probably don't believe in this stuff, but I do. My fate clearly states that it'll be the second man I fall in love with that will be my true love."

Edd broke into a light sweat at her cryptic words, knowing that the first boy she'd fallen in love with was not him. He led her hand back down and looked her in the eye. "Well, it is an interesting theory, but you're right, I don't really believe in it… And frankly even if it were true, I wouldn't chain myself to it. You should marry the man you love most in the world, no matter how many come before or after him. I'll admit Marie, I don't believe in a lot of superstitions or spiritual rituals, but I do like the idea of the Soul Mate. I for one very much wish that, some day, I'll fall in love with the girl that I'll want to make my wife, and that we'll live to be doting old grandparents together. I'm eager for that day to come, but I'm not in a rush., and neither should you be. You should keep improving yourself, just as you have been doing lately, and admirably so in my own opinion - And focus on finding out what you want to do with all your talent. And if you do, you'll always be happy with yourself, and someday you'll make some very lucky man happy too."

She smiled a small, slightly sad smile. "…Thank you, Eddward."

He blushed a little. For some reason, hearing his full name come from her voice sounded very different than his usual nickname. "Don't mention it, Marie."

The school bell rang a second time, indicating that the buses would be leaving in another five minutes. They looked to each other one last time, then murmured their goodbyes and headed for the bus stop.


End file.
